Spider-Man: The Avenger
by xSeshatx
Summary: (Threeshot) Spider-Man is always there for the Avengers when they need it, but they have no idea who he is. That is, until they do. This is a story of how the Avengers learn a little bit more about the hero and newest Avenger who is Peter Parker.
1. chapter 1

**I didn't proof-read this, which is terrible of me. Sorry in advance for fuck ups. I'm posting this under Avengers, but if anybody thinks I should have made this a crossover between Avengers and Spider-Man, give me a comment and I'll change that**

Spider-Man shouldn't have even been there. It hadn't been planned, but nobody was going to stop his arrival or send him away because, honestly, they were in need of an extra man. They had worked together before when he would stumble into one of their battles unknowingly or they would arrive to one of his major ones that would save the entire city as opposed to an old lady with a mugger issue. This guy, who was possibly a civilian like the one and only Tony Stark, would risk his life to keep each individual in New York City alive. He would go above and beyond for the humans without expecting anything in return. The Avengers didn't know who the guy was, what he was, or why he was a vigilante, but they knew he had their back and that they would have his. Superheroes need to stick together.

The arrival of Spider-Man couldn't have happened at a more convenient time. Black Widow was amazing at fighting. Most people couldn't stand a chance at beating her at combat, especially hand-to-hand combat, but gravity was another story altogether. She could keep her balance, but sometimes buildings would just give out during large battles and she couldn't always make the jump to safety. Hawkeye had given the warning, but there was just no time to get away. During moments like these, Iron Man would come to her rescue to make sure she never crashed to the ground or landed inside a burning building like she had been about to at that moment. If she landed in those flames, the likelihood of survival plummeted to zero. Iron Man, however, had been too far away. He started the fly back to where he knew Black Widow was, but he was actual miles away trying to fight a rogue robot who had escaped the main battle and was wrecking havoc on civilians who thought they were far enough away from danger. The robot was defeated around the time Hawkeye yelled, but Iron Man's suit had major damage and his boosters weren't functioning properly. There was no way he'd make it in time. That wasn't to say he didn't try, though.

Black Widow scanned her surroundings to find anything to grab on to so she could protect herself from the flames, but there was no ledge out of the line of danger she could jump to. Just as she began to accept her fate, she suddenly felt a foreign item wrap completely around her torso and she was yanked from the building. Her instincts caused her to raise her gun and shoot at the first unfamiliar thing she saw to save herself from this next possible danger, but then she saw the red and blue suit she knew to be Spider-Man. He had maneuvered the web to carry her to the ground and from there she had been able to save herself from a harsh landing. Nodding her thanks to the superhero, she returned to battle.

So, yeah, Spider-Man was an asset, even if he wasn't an Avenger.

The rest of the giant, creepy looking robots were defeated shortly after. "Seriously, thirty foot tall, give or a take, robots. Who wakes up one morning and decides they want to build eight giant robots just for the hell of it?" Iron Man, now Tony, was complaining after the hour long battle ended. He was sitting on top of an already destroyed car and was already on the process of fixing his damaged suit. He was reattaching some broken wires on the head of his suit while he wore the rest of it. Thor and Captain America took this moment of serenity to catch a breather. "Some of these bad guys are ridiculous. Someone get Banner down here. If he's gonna choose to sit this battle out, I'm going to choose to make him do all the clean up work by himself."

"Just imagine all the clean up work we'd be doing right now if I had let Hulk run loose around New York City. Again," Bruce Banner said, having arrived in time to hear his best friend's complaints.

Black Widow was supporting Hawkeye as the two of them joined the rest of the Avengers. Hawkeye was certain he sprained his ankle for the fourth time since the start of the Avengers, and he couldn't say he was overcome with joy at the revelation. He didn't need the help Black Widow had offered, but he took it nonetheless in the hopes of protecting his ankle from further damage. "That was almost a nasty fall, Natasha," Tony observed, not raising his eyes to see the pair. He felt guilty knowing that if she hadn't made it, it would have been his fault. That had been the only time during a battle where he hadn't been able to prevent a casualty of a teammate, but thankfully someone else had covered him in that area. "Sorry about that, by the way. Damn robots tore my suit to shreds."

"I saw how slow you were flying out there," Steve observed, dropping the commanding attitude of Captain America and relaxing. "I figured one of those machines had something to do with that."

"I don't blame you, Tony, so don't blame yourself," Natasha said, recognizing the look on his face and understanding that an apology from Tony Stark was hard to come by.

"Where is our friend, the Man of Spiders? We must thank him for his aid in battle," Thor declared. Normally after a mission that Spider-Man happened to join them on, he would stay after the battle ended to help with clean up and looking after civilians. He had yet to be seen since a few moments before the battle ended. He had been the one to take out the last robot, but he had disappeared from their sight as the battle came to an end.

The rest of the team noticed his absence, as well, but chose to stay silent on the matter. They didn't know the vigilante, and he hadn't been asked to join the battle. The fact that Spider-Man wasn't an Avenger meant they couldn't expect him to remain at the site of the battle to help the rest of them complete their duties. Perhaps he had something to take care of, or maybe he had stayed but was caught up helping a civilian. Whatever the case, they wouldn't go searching for the hero. Sometimes, the man just didn't want to be found.

Tony and Steve were called away from clean-up in order to talk to the news and address the citizens of New York City. Tony was always called away to talk to the public. Steve, being the leader, would be called out occasionally. He tended to avoid those situations because Tony was much better at it than he was. Steve was more useful helping civilians and starting clean-up. The news reporter had started in on them immediately, asking what the machines were, who created them, and what everybody should expect for the near future. Then the questions took a different turn when Spider-Man was brought up. "Captain, Spider-Man hasn't had the best track record with the police department. Why do you trust this masked vigilante to do The Avenger's job?"

"I may not know who Spider-Man is, but he's out there everyday doing what we do: saving lives. If that's not enough reason to trust him, then what is?" Steve said, answering the question with a question of his own.

"Spider-Man took a hard hit back there. Any word yet on his injuries?" the reporter asked, catching the full attention of Steve and Tony. Tony had been having a side conversation with another smaller reporter while Steve was trying to search for civilians in case they needed help, but now both were staring intently at the news reporter.

"Injuries?" Steve repeated, dumbfounded. He hadn't seen Spider-Man take any hit harder than the hits they all had to take. He had watched Spider-Man recover from a building collapsing on top of him a couple of months before, climbing out of the rubble without so much as a limp. Tony, on his part, put on his helmet and flew away without a moment of hesitation in the direction he last saw Spider-Man. He may not have been an official member of their team but if he was injured they would be there to help. "Excuse me," Steve said, leaving the interview in a rush to help Tony, now Iron Man, find their missing partner.

"Be on the look out for Spider-Man," Iron Man said through the coms. "Possible injury."

The atmosphere amongst the Avengers changed in an instant. There hadn't been many civilian injuries so Hawkeye, Thor, Bruce, and Black Widow were working on the initial clean-up of the battle and discussing the events and accomplishments of the day. Hearing Iron Man's report, the four of them ran in different directions in order to search the rubble for their fallen comrade.

The search went on longer than the battle itself did. Thor was the one who spotted the missing soldier almost two hours after the search began. He found him a few blocks away from where the majority of the battle had taken place, so Thor had to assume Spider-Man had been thrown roughly by their opponent. It had been the blue and red that caught Thor's eye as he ran through the streets. Spider-Man was laying face down inside of a building that had a giant hole in the ceiling, probably caused by the force of him landing on the roof which caused him to crash to the floor. Thor had saw the color in the rubble, and soon the color had a foot so Thor knew he had found him. "Friends, I have found the Man of Spiders," he informed the rest of the Avengers. "I will bring him to the site of the battle. It appears he is unconscious."

Spider-Man remained unresponsive as unusually careful hands picked him up and ran. In record time, Thor arrived to the other Avengers and Banner demanded him to be brought to Avengers tower. "He needs a hospital," Clint argued, following Thor as he ran to the tower anyways.

"He wants to remain anonymous," Natasha said, understanding exactly why Bruce wanted to treat him in secret. "His identity will be discovered at the hospital. At the tower, we can at least keep his mask on."

Nobody was out of breath when they finally reached the tower and there was no question on where to bring the injured man. Thor rested the man on a bed in the Avengers own personal hospital room and Bruce took over. "Does anybody have any details on Spider-Man?" he asked, searching over the body for an injury. "I need to know if he's full human or not."

"I can't imagine him being full human," Steve said, remembering the collapsed building. "You guys see what he can do, and I'm sorry, Clint and Natasha, but even you guys can just walk out of a collapsed building. Heck, he climbed out of there. That's not normal strength." Nobody could argue with that logic.

Natasha helped Bruce cut the suit off of Spider-Man, all of them silently promising to help him acquire a new one, and they couldn't find any injury. There were broken bones or any blood. There were some nasty bruises but that was to be expected. "It must be a head injury," Tony mumbled, coming to the conclusion at the same time Bruce did.

Immediately, all of the group realized the problem. "What do we do?" Clint asked, allowing a moment for the reality to sink in. "Do we destroy his privacy and unmask him or do we hope the injury isn't all that bad?"

Steve saw only one possible solution. "Get out," he said, staring between Clint and Natasha. Seeing the betrayed looks, he explained himself. "You work for S.H.I.E.L.D. This is too big of a secret to keep from Fury. I know he's searching to find out who Spider-Man is, and it's your job to report back to him. I can't ask you to go against him, even thought I know in your hearts you want to keep Spider-Man's identity a secret. Go wait outside so you can tell Fury you don't know who he is."

However, Natasha and Clint remained where they were standing. "I know you're just looking out for us, Captain," Natasha began, "but I'll stand with my team. I can keep a secret from Fury."

"Yeah, there's no way I can report this kind of thing to Fury," Clint agreed. "I'm loyal to him, but I'm more loyal to the Avengers. Anything about Spider-Man will remain in this room."

Tony Stark couldn't help but swell up with pride at being in the team with the people he was with. With all that being said, he carefully pulled at the mask. Exposing the face of the masked hero felt like the biggest invasion of privacy, but it was necessary and it wasn't like they were even finding out a name. It was just going to be a glimpse at his face. Once the mask was off, though, everybody froze and Tony dropped the mask in shock. "Oh no," Steve whispered. "This can't be..."

There were no visible injuries to the head of Spider-Man. That's not what had the team of heroes distressed. Beneath the mask was a face too young to be a soldier. Too young to be an adult. The boy obviously had to be in high school, either as a freshman or a sophomore. He couldn't have even been sixteen. Spider-Man was only just a kid. There was no way he should have been fighting all the battles he had been fighting, even if he wasn't fully human which still had yet to be confirmed. Everybody in that room had seen child soldiers before and everybody had seen child casualties. It made each of them, Natasha especially, sick to their stomachs. Thor, still not an expert on humans from midgard, recognized the issue. Even he, the great and powerful Thor, hadn't been in battles as dangerous as Spider-Man had when he was only a child.

Bruce snapped out of his shock first. He was in doctor mode which made it easier to manage his emotions, although he had to fight back the anger inside of him at the thought that somebody had created a child soldier. Looking into the kid's eyes, he came to the conclusion that he had been suffering a nasty concussion. "Jarvis, scan for any other injuries," Bruce said after relaying his diagnoses to the rest of the team. He had preferred his own scans over a computers since he only had his own scans to go off of for years. He knew Jarvis would have been quicker and more accurate, but it worried him to trust a computer one hundred percent, even if Tony Stark had created it.

"Dr. Banner, he is suffering from a grade 3 concussion. It seems as if he has enhanced healing. My scans show that many broken bones were acquired and are being healed as we speak," Jarvis explained.

The fact that Spider-Man was healing so rapidly made the Avengers less tense when considering the man's youth. While they still didn't agree and couldn't understand why a child was fighting in battles such as the one they all just participated in, they felt they had less reason to worry. Of course they were still worried, more worried about him than they were worried about each other, but easing some of the worry was better than nothing.

Steve took it upon himself to grab one of the many pairs of sweatpants out of one of the drawers and leave it out for whenever Spider-Man woke up. Since this was their own personal medical vicinity they had many spare items such as clothes waiting for them in case they ended up injured. Steve figured that whoever Spider-Man was wouldn't appreciate waking up with nothing on except for boxers so leaving the sweatpants out for the kid to wear seemed like the best he could do. Tony set the mask down on top of the pants before instructing Jarvis to call them whenever the kid woke up. Everybody but Bruce would go to debriefing and then back to helping clean-up while Bruce would keep an eye on Spider-Man.

The rest of the Avengers were gone only half an hour before Bruce heard a groan from behind him. Turning, he saw the kid who was Spider-Man waking up and holding his head. Bruce knew he must have had one hell of a headache even with the speedy recovery he was making. "Who's there?" the kid had asked, voice hoarse but alert.

"It's Bruce," he answered in a slow, calming voice. "Hulk," he added. "You got injured pretty badly in that battle, but it seems like you're healing pretty fast. You did get a nasty concussion. That's why you were knocked unconscious."

"And the rest of the Avengers? Where are they? Is the battle over?"

"You ended it," Bruce said, coming closer to the bed. "You must have taken a hard hit as you did, though. The rest of the Avengers are out doing clean up. They're all okay."

"Black Widow? I hadn't seen her after I got there. She's okay?"

"She's fine," the doctor confirmed. "Everybody is okay."

Spider-Man let out a long, slow breath before whispering, "good."

Bruce wasn't good with confrontations, good or bad. He wasn't good with people in general, and he was awful at words despite how smart he was. But he needed to ask something no matter how difficult it was. "We don't know who you are, Spider-Man," he said, causing the kid to remove his hand from his head and look over at him. "The mask only came off so we can look for injuries. Nobody outside of the Avengers saw you. We're the only ones. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I need to ask. How old are you, Spider-Man?"

Sighing, Spider-Man sat up and ran a hand down his face tiredly. The action was too old for a man who looked so young. "How old do you think I am?"

"I don't think you're an adult. Sixteen, maybe, but I think that's pushing it."

"I'm fifteen," Spider-Man said with a sigh, reaching to grab his mask. When he saw the sweatpants underneath, he grabbed those and stood up to pull them on. He left the mask off his face. "I know what you're thinking. You don't need to say it. I know I'm young, but I'm able to help people, same as all of you. Even if I am just a teenager, I'm not normal. Why waste the powers I have just because I'm fifteen?"

Bruce could tell that the kid was nervous. The shaking of his hands were not the only sign. He kept running his hand through his hair, glancing anywhere but at the doctor, and he was speaking a little too fast. "Calm down, okay? It's not my place to lecture you," Bruce said. After a moment, he went to sit next to Spider-Man on the bed. "You've made it this far. I don't know who you are, what you are, or how you are, but you've been doing this for a long time. It'd be pointless to try and stop you now."

"Then what are you gonna say?"

"I don't actually know," Bruce admitted. "I can give you a heads up that the rest of the Avengers are probably on their way here now. They were alerted when you woke up by Stark's AI. I can also tell you that you should take it easy with the concussion. Other than that, there's not much I can say without overstepping."

Spider-Man was fidgeting beside him, clenching and unclenching his fists and Bruce understood that the man was working up the courage to say something. He waited, and then, "My name is Peter."

The admission shocked Bruce, but he didn't let it show on his face. "Why are you telling me?"

Shrugging, Peter began to mess with the web shooters on his wrists. "I don't know," he admitted. "I've fought with Hulk as Spider-Man. Guess I can sit down and talk to Bruce as Peter."

"Am I keeping your name a secret from the other Avengers?"

"There's no point to, is there? You guys always have my back. If I'm gonna fight with you, you should know who I am. I've been trying to figure out how to tell you guys anyways."

"Why haven't you?"

"I'm fifteen," Peter said as if that answered the question. Somehow, it did. He was a teenager, basically a child. He shouldn't be out there risking his life to protect an entire city at only fifteen years old. He should be focusing on school, making friends, falling in love, and just be a typical angsty teenager. Be focused on himself, thinking he's invincible, and rebelling against anybody in charge. He should be taking risks like sneaking out at two in the morning just because he could. Peter didn't want the Avengers to realize how young he was. It's easier when they thought he was an adult.

It was around then that the rest of the Avengers returned to the tower and made their way to the medical room. "Hey, Spider-Man," Clint greeted, being the first one to walk in the room.

"Man of Spiders, I am delighted to see you awake and coherent once again," Thor boomed, clapping the kid on his shoulder proudly. "You were an asset to our team today as well as in our many other battles together."

"Hey, kid," Tony exclaimed happily. "I just gotta know something. How did you get this super strength and enhanced healing?"

Steve glared over at Tony. "Let's not get too personal with him just yet, Tony," he reprimanded. "Sorry about Tony. He's just curious."

Bruce can tell Peter was starting to feel overwhelmed even if he was grinning and doing his best to look relaxed. "Guys, this is Peter," Bruce said, deciding to introduce him formally before the conversation got out of hand.

"Nice to meet you, Peter," Steve said, holding out his hand. Peter accepted his handshake and both marveled at the other's strength.

"I appreciate all that you guys have done for me," Peter said and they all recognized his statement as the beginning of a goodbye. "I got to get back home, though."

"Your parents must be worried," Clint commented, using this as a way to try to figure out more about the kid subtly. "Do they know you're Spider-Man?"

The hesitation told the two spies in the room that whatever he was about to say wasn't going to be completely truthful. "No, they don't know," he answered, "so I gotta get back to them. I'm sure they're freaking out right now. So, uh, where's my suit?"

"We had to cut it off of you," Natasha said, sounding as apologetic as Natasha could.

"I'll make you a new one," Tony said, having been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the meeting. He was normally speaking a mile and minute and preventing anybody from getting a word in. "I'll make it more high-tech than just spandex. Hope you don't mind. If you're going to be out there, you need more protection than just spandex, even if you have healing powers. Cap over here has super strength and enhanced healing, too, but even he has a shield for protection."

Peter noticeably perked up at the mention of a new suit, but he deflated that energy just a bit. "I can't ask you to do that, Mr. Stark," he said, shaking his head. "I can always get a new suit. You don't need to take all that time to make me one."

"Nonsense," Tony said, disregarding Peter's hesitance. "If you're going to fight alongside the Avengers, I'm going to make sure you're treated like an Avenger, and all these Avengers get Tony Stark approved suits and weapons. You won't be any different."

"Can I give you a ride home?" Steve offered, stepping in before Peter can refuse the new suit Tony was going to make whether Peter agreed or not. "You're injured and probably shouldn't be walking, or swinging, just yet."

"No, I'll be fine. I already feel good as new."

"If you're sure..."

"I am," Peter said, reassuring Steve by standing up and making no face that would imply pain. He felt sore, sure, but not in an extremely painful way. Instead, it felt more like he had slept wrong instead of having been knocked out by a giant robot. "So I guess I'll, uh, get going then. Thanks again for all you're help. If you ever need any help, I'll be there."

"I guess I'll show you out then," Tony said, not hiding his disappointment at Peter's departure.

Later that night, when the Avengers had cleaned themselves up and sat down for dinner, the conversation went straight to Spider-Man. "He's fifteen," Bruce informed the rest of them. "That's why he wanted his identity hidden. He didn't want us to know he was just a kid."

"I was really worried he didn't trust us to keep his secret," Steve admitted, feeling ashamed for not placing any faith in their teammate who wasn't technically their teammate.

"The Man of Spiders, will he be okay?" Thor inquired. "His unconsciousness earlier has me worried."

"He'll be fine. The concussion is probably only a minor one by now with the healing," Bruce said with a sigh.

"I don't like this," Natasha said. "I've seen child soldiers." Nobody mentioned that she was likely one of those child soldiers. "What if he was created to fight? What if he's only acting on orders?"

"Orders to keep the city safe? Listen, Tasha, maybe it's not that deep. Maybe this was just an accident like Hulk - sorry, Bruce - and he decided to use his powers for good," Clint argued. "Who would order him to fight both giant robots and muggers? He's a local crime fighter. I don't know who would want him to fight that crime and Avenger-level crime."

"Natasha has a point, though," Steve said, agreeing more with her than he did Clint. "He's only fifteen. How could he have created himself so young? I doubt even Tony would have been able to."

"Hey, leave my genius out of it," Tony said, coming to his own defense. "I don't know what to think about this situation. I know that fifteen is too young to be all that he is, but we can't change that. Speculating on the cause of this will only end up with us losing our trust in him. While I'm dying to know all there is to know about Spider-Man, I know that I trust him and I have to assume he's acting on his own. I don't think there's any superpower behind him and giving him orders."

Thor raised his glass to what Tony said. "I agree with Man of Iron and the Eye of Hawk. Perhaps the Man of Spiders simply wants to protect the city on his own accords. Who are we to think otherwise?" That was the end of the conversation.


	2. Chapter 2

A couple of weeks, more like a month and a half, went by where the Avengers hadn't heard anything having to do with Spider-Man. They were worried about why he dropped off the radar. Local crime rates were going back up again, but that wasn't the issue for them. The issue was that Spider-Man was letting the crime rates get back up when he had been trying so hard to get them down. Tony had created a suit for Spider-Man, leaving it on top of his tower for the man to grab whenever he felt up to it, and it was only there for a few hours before it disappeared. Checking the footage to make sure it wasn't stolen, Tony had saw the webs from Spider-Man, who was somewhere away from the tower, pull the box that contained his suit. They knew he had it. When he left the Avengers tower that day, he just disappeared. It was worrysome. They knew he came by quick enough to grab his suit, but they don't know what happened after that. They couldn't help but wonder if maybe his injuries that day were far more severe than any of them realized, or maybe a new bad guy had emerged and taken out Spider-Man. Taken out Peter, the fifteen year old vigilante.

The real reason Spider-Man hadn't made an appearance in a while actually had to do with Peter himself. He wasn't injured in the slightest and he hadn't been attacked. The issue was that he was scared. For over a month, he was struggling to sleep, eat, and maintain his grades in school. He was falling into a depression that even his spidey instincts couldn't save him from. Nightmares plagued his nights and anxiety plagued his days. When he left Avengers Tower that day, he couldn't help but feel like a failure for two reasons. The first reason was that he had been injured in the first place. He had been able to avoid injuries too major in many battles but not a battle with the Avengers. The second reason was that his injury had caused the Avengers, the people who looked up to the most in the world, to find out his true identity. He was only a teenager; a kid. He was in way over his head and that's what brought along the depression.

It was by chance the Avengers saw Spider-Man again. Or, well, saw Peter. Tony Stark, the genius with nearly photographic memory, had saw the kid sitting on top of a very tall building while he had been flying back from a battle south of New York. The rest of the Avengers were on a jet but Iron Man always flew himself home. He would never speak up about his injuries to his group. When he flew home, they knew he was okay. When he sat with the rest of them on the jet, they knew he had been hurt. No words were ever said, and Tony liked that a lot. Their system worked for him. He spoke into the coms, letting the other Avengers know he saw Peter, as Peter and not as Spider-Man, and that he was going to stop to talk to him.

Peter seemed frightened when he realized someone was flying towards him, but he relaxed a lot when the flying person got closer and he saw the red and gold of Iron Man. "Hello, Peter," Tony greeted, flipping his mask up and taking a seat beside the kid. "What brings you up here on this fine night?"

"Hey, Mr. Stark," Peter said, acknowledging the man's presence before looking down at his hands. He was sat against a wall with his knees up to his chest and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Based on the amount of books, paper, and water bottles he had been there for a while.

"We haven't seen you around in a while. Everything okay? Does the suit not function properly?" Tony asked, hoping the answer for his disappearance was something as simple as the suit not functioning. Tony could have easily made a mistake. Maybe it was a great suit but wouldn't work for whatever Peter was, or maybe Tony just screwed up.

"The suit is amazing," Peter said. "Thanks a lot for that, by the way. It's great."

Tony took in the boy's behavior at that moment. He was quiet and subdued, very different from the way Spider-Man normally acted when in battle. He was always moving, bouncing around with all that energy and excitement while talking so fast it rivaled Tony himself. Now, he was sitting still aside from the way he was wringing his hands. That was also Bruce's nervous habit so Tony picked up on that. He also picked up how Peter refused to look up. That would suggest guilt, shame, sadness, or something along those lines. No good emotion. The bags under his eyes meant he hadn't been sleeping and the way his shoulders were hunched made him look utterly exhausted. Peter was having a rough time with something and it couldn't have been more obvious.

"I don't know what's going on with you, kid. Is it self-doubt? Did someone get hurt and you're blaming yourself? What is it?" Tony asked, knowing full well Steve would scold him for asking so many personal questions if he had been there. But he wasn't so Tony was handling the situation his own way. "Whatever it is, there's no reason you should feel ashamed about it. We're all superheroes, aren't we? If there's anybody you could talk to, it's one of us, and seeing as I'm the one who's here..."

"It's not that simple, Mr. Stark," Peter said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I know I'm not fit to be a fighter. I know what you guys think of me now that you know who I am. I'm just a kid, aren't I? There's no room for me in this business."

Tony wouldn't have guessed that the issue Peter was struggling with was that of his age. "Listen, kid," he said, mentally admonishing himself for calling the guy who was self-conscious about his age a kid, "you're an asset. Yeah, you're young, and we're all worried because you're young, but we never thought of you as less than us. I'm not saying you have to fight if you don't want to. I'm saying if you want to keep fighting, then don't let the fact that we know you're fifteen stop you. Are you kidding me? You fight battles with two spies, a super human, a scientist with very troubling anger management, a demi god, and of course me, but I don't need to go in detail about how great I am." He flashed a smile at Peter even if he wasn't looking. "You're young, but you are the amazing Spider-Man. If you want to keep fighting, you better keep fighting."

Peter finally looked up at Tony, his eyes more hopeful than they previously were. "You mean that? You don't think I should step back and leave this to the real heroes?"

"You are one of the real heroes," Tony corrected. "We're worried that you're fifteen, more than we were worried before, but can you blame us? You're a teenager. We're worried about you, but that's not us saying we're worried you're not as good as us. That's us worried because you are a child soldier. But you're already a child soldier. There's no reason for us to stop you now. You proved yourself time and time again before we even knew you were fifteen. I think it's about time you are formally offered a spot on the Avengers. Don't start doubting yourself now."

"Wait - you, you mean that?" Peter asked, dumbfounded.

"Of course I mean that. The rest of the Avengers and I have been talking about offering you a spot the next time we came face to face. Now, there may be some issues, such as dealing with our director while keeping your identity a secret, but that's all stuff we can go over and discuss before any decisions are made. What do you say? Will you come in and talk with us about this?"

"I - uh - yeah, I will, uh, I'll come in and talk to you guys about it."

"Great," Tony said, "let's get a move on then. We just got back from a battle so now will be the perfect time, with everybody still in Avenger mode."

"Now?" Peter asked, watching as Tony Stark - The Tony Stark - pack all of his schoolwork he had been working on back in his bag.

Tony decided he didn't need to answer that obvious question that he had already answered in his previous statement, so he simply winked at the kid who was Spider-Man which caused the boy to jump up excitedly. When he did, Tony saw the kid pull off his sweatshirt which was hiding the Spider-Man suit. "Haven't seen Spider-Man in a while. Why are you wearing the suit?"

Grinning sheepishly, Peter looked down embarrassed. "I never leave home without it. Just in case, you know?"

"I know, kid," he said, handing over the backpack where Peter put his sweatshirt and, also, his jeans and shoes. Pulling the mask on, Spider-Man was back. "Any particular reason you're dressing up for this totally non-formal meeting?"

"I don't want anybody to see Peter hanging out with Iron Man. That might give it away, especially if I'm swinging from webs the entire time." Fair enough.

The journey back to Avengers tower was a short one, but as far as journeys go, Tony couldn't say he minded this one all that much. He was flying at a good speed, not too fast where he lost Spider-Man and not too slow where Spider-Man lost him. He watched the fifteen year old kid get some of his spark back that was normally present whenever he saw the hero. The depressed kid on top of the tower didn't fit very well. Now, Spider-Man was shooting webs from building to building, doing flips and otherwise just having a good time. He was talking as fast as he was moving, too, and it was the excited talk that teenagers and children could often get lost in. He was speculating out loud how the conversation would go and how cool being an official Avenger would be. Tony let the kid talk, content that the world was gaining a superhero back. While listening to the boy who wouldn't stop talking, Tony updated the Avengers on the situation and agreed to meet them in the Avengers lounge.

An unnecessary backflip exhibited by Spider-Man from the sky to the landing deck of Avengers tower ended the trip. Iron Man was much less graceful, choosing to land on the suit remover he built instead of performing any cool trick or anything the teenager was probably expecting. "That was so cool!" Peter exclaimed once Tony Stark was no longer in the Iron Man suit. "It took your suit apart! Awesome!"

"I know it's awesome; I built it." Tony couldn't help but smile at the young boy who was oozing with excitement. The pair walked into the building where Peter pulled off his mask and let his eyes wonder around the building. "I can tell you think the tower is awesome, too."

"It's enormous! And way more organized that I would have expected from you."

"My girlfriend handled the decoration," Tony admitted, "but, I mean, she's my girlfriend, so I get to claim at least twenty percent of the credit."

"Twelve percent," they heard a female say, and both turned to see Pepper standing near the elevator. "You only get twelve percent of the credit. It's not nice, is it?" If she hadn't been smiling, Peter would have assumed she was being bitter about a situation that happened before, even if he hadn't known what the situation was. He went to pull on his mask because that woman was certainly not an Avenger, but he stopped himself when he knew she already saw his face. "You can put the mask on, if you want. I can always pretend I didn't see anything."

Tony left Peter's side and instead appeared beside the woman. "Spider-Man, this is Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries and girlfriend of yours truly," he introduced. "Pepper, this is Spider-Man."

Peter felt uncomfortable under the stare of Pepper, but he knew what she was thinking by the look on her face. Thankfully, she didn't mention the age. "Nice to meet you, Spider-Man. Glad to see you're still around. Tony here was worried."

"Was not," Tony denied. "Well, let's head down to see the other Avengers and talk about adding you to the list of the cool kids."

Pepper kissed Tony bye and then Tony and Peter went to join the Avengers. When they reached them, Peter instantly filled up with nerves again. What if Tony only wanted to get Peter back as Spider-Man, but didn't want him on his team? What if the other Avengers didn't want Spider-Man as an Avenger and Tony lied to him? He tried not to focus too hard on the bad possibilities, but he couldn't push them away entirely. His heart was pounding which sent off his spider senses. He knew he had no reason to be on edge the way he was at that moment. He could feel his body gearing up to flee or fight, and he could almost feel the sounds in the room, as crazy as that sounds. His human senses were going nuts which only added to this spider senses.

Tony noticed the change in demeanor but chose not to mention it. "Look who I found," he announced, gesturing to the teenager.

"Hello, Spider-Man," Steve said, standing up from his seat on the couch to come over and shake Peter's hand. That was a very Captain thing to do, Peter noticed.

"Hi," he said, suddenly shy. He felt so tiny in a room with the Avengers and his insecurity was making him regret coming.

"Let's get this party started," Tony said, clapping his hands once and leading Peter to one of the couches to talk.

By the end of the conversation, Peter had agreed to become an Avenger. Or, well, Spider-Man did. Peter was adamant that nobody outside of the group can know his identity. He said it was bad enough Pepper knew his face, even if he trusted their judgement when they assured him she wouldn't tell a soul. The group hadn't even learned his last name. He preferred their only knowledge of him to be his first name and age. The age wasn't even something he wanted them to ever know, but there was no turning back from that. That was the biggest reason his identity was a secret, but then he thought about other possible problems to them discovering more about him. If they found out his full name it would be hard to hide the fact that he was technically an orphan. Peter didn't want them to find out that. They pitied him enough for his age.

The only Avenger opposed to having Spider-Man join their team was Clint, and the only reason for that was because he couldn't get over his age. The thought of a child-soldier made him physically sick. He had spent a countless amount of nights staying up and worrying about what Spider-Man was up to, if he was hurt, and how this happened to him. Seeing the kid was okay helped him relax, but the thought of him returning to fighting sent his stomach on rollercoasters. He didn't voice any of this until Peter had left later that evening.

There was only one thing Peter was unsure of about being an Avenger that he probably should have asked before he agreed. "How is this going to work?" he asked, realizing after he spoke how vague that question was. "When will I know there's a battle? You guys fight out of town, don't you?"

"That's where I come in," Tony said with a smirk, obviously waiting for this part of the conversation to be brought up. "I came up with this a few weeks ago while you were MIA. It's essentially a pager. You'll get the same alert at the same time we do."

"You'll be expected to show up to battle," Steve cut in, hating the fact that he had to say this because he had to be the Captain. "I know you are...young yet. But being part of the Avengers come with a lot of responsibility. I know you're responsible already - we see what you do out there, and it's incredible - but, we also know you're in school."

Peter's cheeked flushed and he looked down. "I'll uh...I can't promise I won't be able to make it out of school all the time," he said quietly, ashamed. He mentally prepared to hear the words he thought were coming. 'You can't be an Avenger.' He didn't want to hear it, but he convinced himself that was coming.

"Can something not be worked out?" Thor cut in. "Many battles of ours can be fought without the extra aide of the Man of Spiders. Can we not allow him to miss some?"

"Sometimes our fights are quick," Natasha said, agreeing with Thor. "We don't need all of us most of the time. One extra person will be unnecessary. Welcomed, but unnecessary. We can get by without Spider-Man's help all the time."

"A part-time Avenger?" Bruce questioned, unsure. "He would already be considered a part-timer Avenger now."

"So nothing will change," Clint broke in. "Might as well give him the official title, though, and access to the same knowledge we do."

Everybody excluding Peter turned to look at Steve, being the captain of the Avengers. It was his call along with Fury, and Fury already made it known he wanted Spider-Man on the team. However, Fury would not be happy when he heard the news that Spider-Man's identity was going to remain a secret. Adding the fact that he would only be a part-timer wouldn't make the man feel any better. "We'll have to talk to Fury about this," Steve finally said, unable to make the decision on his own. "If it were up to just me or just us, I'd say yes. But there's a lot Fury isn't going to like. We need to bring it up to him."

"I can be more than a part-timer," Peter cut in before he could stop himself. He knew he couldn't be more than a part-timer, but he also couldn't lose this opportunity. If he were to leave school for a battle, someone would ought to put two and two together. "There would just need to be a lot of...I don't know, really. Leaving school will be difficult, but maybe I can say I work for you, Mr. Stark. When there's a battle, I could claim that you need me at the tower to...I don't know. Sorry, I'm just talking, I don't know how to fix this situation."

"Maybe you're on to something," Tony said, not wanting to accept the alternative which would likely be that Spider-Man cannot join. They could definitely figure something out. "Not to get too personal since I know you wanna keep yourself a secret from us and all, but how are your grades in school? Good? Any mechanical skills or anything like that? Electrical, technical, mathematical?"

Peter didn't want to brag, but he could at least be honest on his academics. "I like to think I'm pretty good at all that," he admitted before pulling off his web-shooters. "I made these, at least."

Tony made a mental note to look at those at a later time and examine them. "I'd say that's good enough. You could 'help out' in the tower when I'm away. Since the world can see me as Iron Man fighting somewhere else, they would know I'm away from the tower. I can hire you to come in when I leave because I need extra hands there when I'm away," Tony said, once again excited. "It makes sense: you're smart enough to have your own creations, so I would need someone like you anyways. If I'm away, people could just assume I have people being my eyes and ears for battle so I'll need to call in all employees to help pick up the slack. Do you guys think that'll work? Does your school allow you to leave for work?"

Smiling, Peter nodded. He knew the school would assume he got a job to help his aunt out with the bills, so they would pity him like they pitied other orphans. The Avengers didn't need to hear those details, though. "We're allowed to leave for work. People do it all the time, as long as we keep our grades up."

"Then it's settled. You can be a full-time Avenger without the school ever finding out," Steve said, also grinning. The only issue Fury would have then would be Spider-Man's secret identity, but he knew Fury would agree anyways. Spider-Man was a huge asset and would be just as important as any of them. "Welcome to the Avengers, Spider-Man."


	3. chapter 3

For almost three months, Spider-Man showed up to every single battle they had as well as his own nightly patrols. He was shown on the news for stopping burglars, murderers, and even super villains that should have been taken out by all of the Avengers but was handled by him alone before they could get involved. The school hadn't questioned his internship with Tony Stark, instead choosing to congratulate him on the success and taking pity on any missing homework assignments, even though those were rare considering how often he was never home. His aunt May had even bought the story, though she told him she wished he wouldn't associate with a superhero. She was worried people would come after him instead.

Things were going relatively good for Spider-Man, but Peter himself wasn't having such a great time. The lack of sleep was bothering him a lot more than it ever had been before and that only took a tole on his emotional well-being. Nightmares seemed to haunt him even while he was awake. He constantly found himself shaking and trying hard to keep his breaths normal. Spider-senses in overdrive, he was always on alert which only made him more tired than he was with the little sleep he got. He was stressed because of school, too, knowing he had to keep his grades up even if the school was supportive of his decision. Bullies at school were difficult to handle and everyday he had to actively hold himself back from using his Spider-Man skills to shut them all up for a change. Spider-Man was perfect in every way while Peter was not, and that was okay with him even if he was miserable because of it.

Peter got to know the rest of the Avengers on a more personal level throughout their time together. Some nights he was invited to the tower just to hang out. Bonding time, Tony liked to call it. It was one of the highlights of Peter's life, if he was being honest. He still fanboyed from time to time over little things, like Tony complimenting his work in the labs or Natasha taking time out of her day to practice hand to hand combat with him. He had a habit of calling everybody by their Avengers name, feeling it was more formal than the casual, 'Hey, Tony' or 'What's up, Clint?' The rest of the Avengers also got to know more about Peter. They found out about his love for learning, and Bruce and Tony had a field day in the labs just to see how much he knew and how quickly he got on. They also knew some of his hobbies for when he wasn't being Spider-Man, one of which was skateboarding. Clint and him went out skating a few times. They were all just getting to know each other better and Peter enjoyed that, even if he was keeping most things hidden from them.

It was hard keeping up with the Avengers, Peter had to admit to himself. More battles, more bad guys, more nightmares. It was worth it, though. Any life saved is worth all the sleepless nights in the world. Whenever he wasn't Spider-Man he felt like he was failing somebody out there. It seemed like he spent more hours as Spider-Man than he did as Peter, and that was okay with him to a certain extent. Spider-Man was cool and everything Peter couldn't be. Peter, on the other hand, didn't have to fight bad guys. Pros and cons.

Some battles were harder than others, not because of the physicality of it but the mental strain. Sometimes, when he made it home after one of those emotionally draining battles, he would just sit on his bed with the door locked and try to empty his mind. When he couldn't do that, he'd find himself in a seemingly endless wave of overwhelming panic where more than a few tears were shed. The fear would consume him, ending with him in the fetal position with various items thrown every which way in his room. These moments were always cast from his mind as soon as they were over as he would pretend they never happened. He ignored the shame that filled his mind.

One battle the Avengers called him into was horrendous, and not because of the danger but because of something else. The villain in this battle had taken children, made them orphans, and brainwashed them to fight. He felt the eyes of all the other Avengers on him when these things came to light, but he continued on as if nothing was an issue. He knew they were focused on the child soldier aspect of it, and while he felt sick to his stomach over that he was more focused on the fact that they were orphans. In his sleep-deprived, over-emotional mind, he couldn't keep his heart from swelling up in pain and grief.

Spider-Man was the best at subduing the children than the rest of them were since he main weapon was a web. He would stick them to various walls and stop them from attacking the other Avengers while they all went after the sick bastard behind the child soldiers. "I'm so sorry," Spider-Man kept apologizing after each web was shot. Some of them were around his age, some older, but most were younger. He identified with them even if he was fighting on his own. He knew how terrifying being in a battle was and knew he would be affected by that for the rest of his life. He couldn't imagine how they would feel once the brain washing wore off.

The battle was won very shortly. It couldn't have last thirty minutes. It was an amateur super villain even if he was a murderer. He couldn't fight off the Avengers. The brain washing wore off immediately after he was defeated and Spider-Man could feel the fear and pain washing over them. With tears in his eyes behind his mask, he helped them down one by one and watched as the policemen wrapped blankets around them and comforted them through the pain. Children who were made orphans and forced to fight. Civilians had been injured by those kids. Peter prayed, for the first time in years, that they didn't remember anything that happened and that nobody would tell them they hurt other people.

With his Spider-senses going haywire, Peter felt more than he heard someone coming up behind him. Whipping around with his arm raised for battle, he saw none other than Captain America raising his arms in surrender. "Easy there, Spider-Man," he said carefully, slowly. "I just wanted to come make sure you were fine."

"Sorry, Cap," Spider-Man said, running his hand over his head since he would normally run his fingers through his hair. "Didn't realize it was you."

"It's okay," Captain America said, lowering his hands while still talking carefully. It was obvious how much that battle shook him up which was why Captain America had come over there in he first place. "We're loading up the jet right now so we can head to debriefing. No reason for us to stick around right now."

"Okay, yeah, let's, uh, go then," Peter mumbled, feeling embarrassed that Captain America caught him in an emotional moment where he almost actually swung at the man in fear. The pair walked in silence to the jet where they boarded. Nobody else said anything either, realizing that there had been some sort of incident that went on between the two of them since Captain had an odd long on his face and Spider-Man wasn't speaking.

Spider-Man had remained quiet throughout debriefing as well, only speaking when he absolutely needed to. They were flown back to Avengers tower as soon as the meeting ended and he had went to leave from there as soon as they arrived before he was stopped by Clint. "What's up, Spider-Man?" he asked, not wanting him to leave just yet. Anything could have happened during that battle to make him act the way he was acting. His entire body was shaking and he flinched more than a handful of times at various thing. He could see Spider-Man looking around, even when they were simply sitting on the jet. Something was wrong and it could have been anything.

"I just need to get home," Peter answered, trying his best to sound normal but knowing his voice was shaking too much to be casual.

"Are you hurt?" Bruce asked, having stopped when he heard Clint speak. Everybody else remained where they were standing, too, glad that someone had spoken up about Peter's behavior.

"No, I'm not, I'm not hurt," he said weakly. He needed to get out of there. He needed to get home before he had some sort of meltdown. His breaths were coming in short gasps and he was desperate for the safety and privacy of his bedroom or some tall building or, hell, even behind a dumpster somewhere. Point was, he wasn't able to hold it together any longer and he needed out.

Steve, with his enhanced senses, can hear the pants coming from the teen. "Peter," he said softly, "what is it?"

That question got him, really. He wasn't used to hearing people ask him if he was okay, or what his issue was, or even acknowledging that there was an issue. He put his hands up to his face and let out a sob. He was so terrified, so tired, and so bone-achingly sad. It was too much. He knelt down where he was standing, his hands still covering his face over his mask, and fought to breathe air in. He knew he should take his mask off. It was always easier to breathe without it, not because of the fabric but because of the lack of Spider-Man at that particular moment. Without the suit and without the mask, he was Peter. It was easier to breathe that way.

"Hey, hey, hey," Bruce said softly and he felt his hands grab his arms. "Take a deep breath. You're okay. I need you to breathe with me."

"Jarvis, lock down," Tony ordered, and suddenly all the windows were shut and a wall rose from the ground on the landing pad to close them in from the outside. Strangely, Peter knew this was to make him feel safer, and it worked a little bit.

"Take the mask off, Peter," Bruce commanded gently. "You're okay. Just keep breathing. What's the problem?"

"They didn't know what they were doing," he cried, not wanting to talk but unable to help it. "Their families were killed and they were forced to fight. It's not fair!" He felt Bruce take his mask off and he lifted his hands to allow it before putting his hands right back. "None of it is fair..."

Carefully, Bruce removed Peter's hands from his face. When he was able to see the teen more clearly, he could see the bags under his eyes so clearly and the amount of tears the poor boy was shedding. Before he could say anymore, Natasha surprised them all by taking a knee next to the boy and wrapping her arm around his shoulders, pulling him to rest against her. Nobody could deny Natasha had motherly instincts, but they also knew she refused to show them outwardly. "We know that, Peter. We know. It's not fair," she said solemnly, understanding part of the problem.

"Breathe," Bruce reminded, hearing his breathing picking up more than before. "Focus on what's going on right now. What you feel, what you hear. Focus on all that."

"I can't do anything but focus on it," Peter said in between his gasps. "It's too much, there's too much."

It was Clint who remembered what Spider-Man said one day about enhanced senses, which he called Spider-senses. "Tasha, let go of him," he said, and she did so with no hesitation. "Sensory overload. Spider-senses."

"Dim the lights," Tony said, and Peter was surprised to find out that he had moved closer. Perhaps they all did, but he didn't want to look up to see. His suit was sticking too him and he could hear everybody breathing and he could feel himself giving up. He didn't want to give up, but he was so broken at that moment. He was overcome with fear and he felt as if he was going to be terrified forever.

"I'm so tired," Peter cried. "I can't sleep. I just wanna sleep. I'm so scared." Nobody dared to mention that he was just a kid and shouldn't feel so tired or scared. "It haunts me, all of it. I'm scared, I'm so scared, I don't wanna be scared."

"Peter, listen to me," Natasha said, using a voice she never thought she would have to use, "I know you're afraid. It's okay to be afraid. But remember, there's nothing to be afraid of when we're all here. If you're safe anywhere, it's right here with all of us. You're okay. You hear me?"

Thor took a knee on the other side of Peter. "Young companion, you have my word that we will protect you from any dangers that threaten your well-being," he promised. "I know the fear of a soldier, as do the rest of us. You are not wrong in feeling so afraid. Battle can be frightening. You are not any less of a hero because you are fearful."

The panic in Peter's body didn't fade away despite how much he was begging for himself to calm down. "I can't breathe," he exclaimed, scratching at this throat as it that would bring air into his lungs.

Bruce stopped him, holding his hands down on his chest while he grabbed the back of Peter's neck with his other. "Breathe when we breathe," he said, using a gentle yet commanding tone. With a look given to Natasha, she swiftly moved behind Peter and wrapped her arms around him, bringing him close. "Breathe with me and Natasha." He took a deep breath which Natasha mimicked and, in turn, Peter. "That's it, Peter, you're doing great. Keep breathing with Natasha. Good, good."

It took a long time to get Peter calmed down enough for him to stop being so hyper active of everything happening around him and to keep his fear inside him. "I'm okay," he said weakly, worn out from the event which only added to the sleep deprivation. "I'm fine. I'm good now." Glancing up, he saw all of the Avengers huddled around him on the floor, staring at him with pity. "Sorry about that. I'm good."

Steve stopped him when he made an attempt to get up. Natasha let go of him and moved so she was sitting beside him again, holding his arm to keep him from rising as well. "What was that all about?" Steve asked, hoping his questions won't spark another reaction. "What happened?"

"I just..." Peter started before hesitation. He didn't know how to word the situation in a way that they would relax and not want to kick him off of the Avengers. He didn't know how to phrase what just happened without making himself look even weaker than he just did. "I don't know," he sighed. "It's been a long few days. I'm tired and I haven't seen anything like today before. It just got to me."

"I want the truth," Tony said, his voice letting everybody know he wasn't taking a no for an answer. He expected Peter to spill everything right then and there. "There's so much we don't know about you. We are your teammates, kid. Friends, family, however you want to call us. You're on the Avengers and we aren't kicking you off for any reason, you hear me? Nothing will change our minds."

"The Man of Iron is correct, my friend," Thor cut in. "You are as much family as any of us. We are in these battles together. I would be honored if you allowed me to aide you in whatever battle it is you are facing alone. I lost one brother by not being there for him; I refuse to let the same happen with you."

"I know why you're worried," Clint said, his voice quieter than the rest. "We won't think any less of you. We won't bench you. We won't take it easy on you. We just want to know what the issue is. If we can help with it, we want to help. If we can't, we want to help you while you help yourself."

Really, Peter couldn't stop himself from opening up if he tried at that moment. They were all so sincere, and he needed it all off his chest. He had been there for them before; they were going to be there for him. It took him a few minutes to compose himself and work up the courage to speak, but he did. "I love being Spider-Man, but I didn't ask for it," he admitted. "It was an accident. I was bit by some sort of mutant spider and, I don't know, this just happened. I hadn't wanted anything to do with it at first, but then my Uncle Ben...He was killed, and the cops couldn't find the guy. Somebody needed to find him, so I went looking and I found him, and then I just sort of became Spider-Man. The cops can't do everything, especially in New York City. Somebody had to be there. It's just sort of bittersweet, I guess."

"Are you scared of being Spider-Man?" Bruce asked.

"The most violence I had to deal with before Spider-Man was people at school," Peter said, shrugging. "I'm still not use to it. I don't know how to be. I try to handle it, but I think I push it back more than anything, and then I explode like I did. I know it's not good. I try to get a handle on it, but it's hard. Sometimes, I just wanna be a kid again. I was fourteen when I became Spider-Man. It doesn't seem fair sometimes, but I can't just stop."

"What about your parents?" Clint asked. "They must know something's up."

Peter looked down again, more interested in his web-shooters. "My parents died a long time ago. I live with my aunt."

"Our battle affected you today because you identify with those children," Thor said, piercing it together.

"Yeah, I guess," he answered, running his fingers through his hair. "It just sorta sucks."

"And what about your sleeping? You say you're tired and you look exhausted," Steve pointed out.

"I just can't sleep. Nightmares, mostly. I spend most of my nights as Spider-Man when I don't sleep. I figured if I'm awake I could at least make sure more people are saved."

Tony shifted where he was sitting, causing everybody to look over at him. "Okay, sorry, but really?" he asked, almost dumbfounded. "Peter, it isn't your job to save everybody in New York City. It's not our job and it's certainly not yours, a fifteen year old kid who accidentally became Spider-Man. You're stressing yourself out over making sure you can save everybody, but you can't, and the sooner you realize that the easier your life will be. You can't save everybody. We can't save everybody. None of that is ever our fault. We're doing more than is asked of us just by existing. We go out there and fight battles that would wipe out entire nations, just the seven of us. You do even more just by yourself. That's more than enough."

"Tony's right," Natasha agreed. "None of us can save everybody. We can try, but the more we focus on that one person we failed to save, the harder it will be for us to bounce back."

"We're not invincible," Clint continued. "We're not indestructible. We're not perfect. We save thousands of people. We can't save them all. You'll start to lose yourself."

Quietly, softer than a whisper, Peter sniffed and then, "I couldn't save my uncle. I don't want anyone else to have to go through that."

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Steve said. "Life is full of pain. People die everyday. It's impossible to live forever. We have a duty to ourselves before we have a duty to the city, the country, the world. Peter, you are more important. You need to save yourself before you can save anybody else."

"You're a child soldier," Bruce said, speaking sternly and causing Peter to look at him. "You are going to be afraid. You haven't had any training in how to manage the emotions after battle. I still get caught up in it from time to time. I wasn't trained in battle either, and neither was Tony. It's a skill you learn, but you can't do it by yourself."

"I don't want to admit this, kid, but I had a rough time after the Avenger's first battle," Tony said, looking embarrassed himself. "It was bad. No sleep, panic attacks. I had a kid talk me through it all. He was younger than you. I wasn't prepared for any of that, but I learned how to deal with it. I'm a grown man and it took me months to learn. You're only a kid. We can't expect you to handle everything perfectly, and you can't expect yourself to, either."

Peter wiped a few strays tears falling from his eyes. "How do I learn? I'm so tired. I just need to sleep without waking up from nightmares."

"What are your nightmares about exactly? Maybe the answer lies in that," Bruce hypothesized.

"Usually, it's just memories of battles, or me not saving someone, or something like that," he answered with a shrug. "It's jsut normal Spider-Man stuff, I guess."

"Then it goes back to what we were saying," Clint answered. "You can't save everybody, and you can't blame yourself if something goes wrong."

Natasha decided Peter was calm enough for her to wrap her arms around his shoulders again. "Why don't you take a night off from your usual patrol? Stay the night here and get a good night sleep. We'll watch after you."

"Really?" he asked, hopeful as he looked up at her. His eyes filled once more with tears, but this time they were tears of relief.

"Of course," she said. "Whenever you need to, the door is open for you here."

"Friend Natasha is correct, Man of Spiders. We will watch after and protect you while you get well-needed rest. You shall be safe," Thor said, carefully patting the boy on the shoulder.

"You guys are so...amazing. You know that, right?" Peter asked, getting more of his usual happiness back. "Like, full-blown, I don't deserve to know you, I'm forever gonna be in your debt amazing."

Steve smiled, happy to see the teenager talking in the same tone he use to use. "So amazing," he said, standing up and holding his hand out to help Peter up. "Why don't you remind us how amazing we are in the morning after you get some rest."

"Sounds great to me," Peter said, agreeing immediately to the suggestion of sleep. He would be okay with them for the night, and then he would learn how to be okay without them. He had to start somewhere. Being accepted fully by the Avengers even after they knew he was fifteen, an orphan, and an accidental hero took so much stress off of his shoulders. It was unbelievable how light he felt at that moment. He really didn't deserve the Avengers. He felt like he belonged somewhere for a change. Who knew the best friends he would have would be people twice his age and the freaking Avengers.


End file.
